Jestice Phyllis G. (Ed.). Holy People of the World. A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia

ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2004. — 1047 p.: ill. — ISBN: 1-57607-355-6.(Contents 3 Volumes in 1: Vol-1: Entries A to G, Vol-2: Entries H to P, Vol-3: Entries Q to Z).Holy People of the World: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia focuses on the relationship between humans and the divine in the world religious traditions. Its particular theme is that most effective intermediary between heaven and earth: the holy human being who has a foot in both realms. It is intended as a contribution to the study of comparative religion, seeking to understand both diversity and similarities in world religions through this aspect of popular religion.
The encyclopedia is largely biographical in format and comprises 1,183 entries; more than 1,000 of these are biographies of holy people from around the world—well known and obscure, representatives of many religions, and from all periods from which traditions of holy people survive. A concise selection of articles treats specific types of holy people (for example, Bhakti saints and Imams).
In addition, there are major articles on attitudes toward holy people in many religions, ranging from the cult of saints in Christianity to the less familiar role of holy people in African and Amerindian traditions. In an effort to consider some of the common themes of holy people around the world, there are also 64 comparative articles on such issues as miracles, purity and pollution, and sexuality and holy people.
But what is a holy person? This encyclopedia has employed a broad definition, seeking to explore the variety of religious experience without privileging the Roman Catholic traditional definition of a saint. Even the term saint has been avoided except in the case of Christianity, lest the reader be drawn into preconceptions that do not necessarily fit other religious traditions. Instead the encyclopedia examines holy people—human beings who have been regarded as efficacious contacts to the holy, who because of a special sense of otherness have been held up as objects of veneration as well as paradigms for human behavior.The role of the holy person depends on personal charisma, rather than ecclesiastical office, and exists either in the mainstream or on the margin of most world religions.